What a luxury safari in South Africa actually costs
What you're really paying for on a luxury safari in South Africa: nightly rates, private concessions, charter flights, and total trip budgets.
4 min read
The people behind the planning
Vikki Jackson
Co-founder. She writes the dispatches: the people and the moments that make a safari worth crossing the world for.
Her beat Stories & Voices
A note from Vikki
I grew up in Manchester and came out to Africa at 21. There were years in corporate life along the way, doing work that looked good on paper, but the bush kept winning the argument. Marula Hill is what happened when I stopped arguing back.
I've celebrated most of my life's milestones out here, and I've introduced more friends to their first leopard than I can count. My favourite animal is the hyena, which tells you most of what you need to know about how I feel about underdogs.
In the journal I write the dispatches: the sightings that go wrong beautifully, and the small human moments no brochure will sell you. And when a trip needs rethinking on the fly, a lodge switch or a last-minute charter, I'm usually the one on the phone.
Vikki
Co-founder, Marula Hill
From the journal
Everything Vikki has written
Sabi Sand, the reserve that built modern safari
Why one strip of bush on Kruger's western edge changed how the world watches leopards
4 min read
Sabi Sand Game Reserve: South Africa's leopard country
The Sabi Sand has the highest leopard density of any protected area in South Africa. Here's what makes it genuinely different, and how we plan trips here.
4 min read
A day on safari, hour by hour
From the knock at the door to the second sundowner
6 min read
What to pack for a safari
A short, honest list from the people who keep getting the WhatsApp message at 11pm the night before
4 min read
A conversation with Vikki Jackson
Vikki Jackson, co-founder of Marula Hill, on moving to South Africa with her family in 1994 and being the one who stayed, why hyenas are the ones to watch, and the small details that make a lodge actually work.
4 min read
A conversation with Sian Loehrer
Sian Loehrer, co-founder of Marula Hill, talks about how she designs safaris, where she'd go right now, and what first-time travellers always ask.
4 min read
From Manchester to Marula Hill: how Vikki Jackson built a safari business in South Africa
How a childhood holiday to South Africa, a mistaken olive, and a corporate career led to Marula Hill Travel.
4 min read
The slow letter
A quarterly note from the bush
No noise, no marketing. Just the letter we'd write to a friend who asked what it's really like out here.